The Los Angeles Dodgers took some heat for their treatment of the fan who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first home run as a Dodger on Wednesday night. Ambar Roman described her experience to Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain on Thursday.
After denying her request to have Ohtani sign and return the authenticated baseball, Dodger Stadium staff bartered with Roman on the terms of the exchange, eventually giving up two hats signed by Ohtani along with an autographed bat and ball.
“As a Dodger fan, I expected maybe a little bit more warmth, I should say, from them,” Roman said. “But it was just really sad I needed to make a decision right then and there.”
Now, the Dodgers say Roman and her husband, Alexis Valenzuela, have been invited to an on-field experience at Dodger Stadium. The team also said it will review its ballpark processes for retrieving milestone baseballs.
The invitation comes after the team faced some backlash for how it treated Roman. However, the situation merely highlighted a league-wide lack of protocol for how fans are treated after retrieving milestone home runs.
Hopefully the Dodgers’ initial response to Roman — and their subsequent reversal — can spur change not only in Los Angeles, but wherever valuable home run balls are caught.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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